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Gothic Fiction

The document discusses the history and evolution of Gothic fiction. It started in the late 18th century with Horace Walpole's novel The Castle of Otranto. Key tropes included supernatural elements, frightening settings, and romantic relationships. Over time, Gothic fiction incorporated realistic elements, scientific discoveries, and psychological explanations rather than purely supernatural ones. It remains a popular genre across literature, film, television and beyond.

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29 views2 pages

Gothic Fiction

The document discusses the history and evolution of Gothic fiction. It started in the late 18th century with Horace Walpole's novel The Castle of Otranto. Key tropes included supernatural elements, frightening settings, and romantic relationships. Over time, Gothic fiction incorporated realistic elements, scientific discoveries, and psychological explanations rather than purely supernatural ones. It remains a popular genre across literature, film, television and beyond.

Uploaded by

a.shahzad
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Gothic fiction
The first examples of Gothic fiction were written at the end of the 18th century. It became a
hugely popular genre in the 19th century and continues to have an impact on our culture today.
The first Gothic novel was written by Horace Walpole in 1764. Walpole gave the genre its name,
as the book’s full title was The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Novel.

Originally, ‘Gothic’ was a term used to describe a type of architecture that was deliberately old-
fashioned for the time — Walpole seems to have been trying to write a story that had a similarly
old-fashioned feeling. Walpole pretended that he had not written the story, and that it was a
translation of a story written in 1529.

The novel contained many tropes (themes or conventions which are associated with a genre) that
are now typically found in Gothic fiction:

• an ‘ordinary’ character
• a ‘monstrous’ character
• the presence of the supernatural
• a discovery of something historic or ancient
• a frightening or ruined setting
• a romantic relationship.

• After the publication of The Castle of Otranto, Gothic fiction quickly became very
popular. Many writers, including Ann Radcliffe and Matthew Lewis, soon published their
own Gothic novels. The genre stayed popular throughout the Victorian era and is still
read and enjoyed today.
• However, over time it has evolved in several ways:

• Some writers began using Gothic elements in otherwise realistic novels. Jane Austen
(who is better known for writing romantic comedy novels set in country houses in the
early 19th century) wrote the Gothic parody Northanger Abbey in 1803. A parody is a

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funny imitation of an existing genre. In the novel, the heroine, Catherine, visits an old
abbey and imagines all kinds of supernatural things happening, none of which prove to be
real. Similarly, Charlotte Brontë used Gothic settings and a ‘monstrous’ character in her
1847 novel Jane Eyre, which is otherwise a realistic novel.

• As Victorian understanding of science progressed, so did its inclusion in Gothic novels.


Both Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde by R.L. Stevenson (1886) include Gothic events caused by the misuse of scientific
knowledge.

• Some Gothic novels began to suggest that the sinister happenings were a result of the
main character’s psychology (their mind) rather than a supernatural being, such as in
H.G. Wells’ short story ‘The Red Room’ (1896).

• The invention of film and then television programmes offered new ways for audiences to
enjoy Gothic stories. In addition to the many film versions made of some of the novels
mentioned above, there are many new Gothic works: in recent years, Twilight, The
Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and Riverdale have all incorporated Gothic elements.

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